Marquette romps UNC, 83-70

Marquette pulled off an astonishing win on Wednesday night.

The Golden Eagles knocked off the North Carolina Tar Heels to the tune of an 83-70 romp. Despite being a dirty dog, a 9.5-point underdog to be precise, MU picked up the win in Chapel Hill in this makeshift encounter anyway.

At times, this one wasn’t particularly close. 6+ minutes into the game, MU held a 10-point lead, which soon swelled up to as large as 18 points in the first half. UNC couldn’t make much of anything, and Marquette was more than willing to play the role of bucket-makers at the Dean Dome. UNC closed the gap a bit in the second half, cutting the deficit to seven points at the 7:53 mark. But, Marquette held strong, and got their lead back up to as many as 17 points before the 13-point result was decided.

Dawson Garcia shined real brightly against the Heels. The ballyhooed frosh scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, and committed just one turnover in 37 minutes. Garcia went 9-for-13 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the free throw line, as he was too much for UNC to handle inside. DJ Carton, Greg Elliott and Theo John joined Garcia in double figures, meanwhile. Carton gave the Golden Eagles 17 points, while Elliott and John chipped in 15 and 11 respectively.

On the whole, MU shot 51.8 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from 3 and 80 percent on 20 free throw attempts.

UNC wrangled 18 points from Garrison Brooks, 11 from RJ Davis and 10 from Walker Kessler. However, no other player got more than eight points, as it was just a super poor night for the Carolina boys. One to forget for sure, and one that, to their dismay, could affect things in March if this loss looms as large as it could.

MU returns to Big East Conference play Saturday when they play the UConn Huskies in Storrs.